五角大樓推遲停用老式集束炸彈計劃
The Pentagon is indefinitely postponing plans to stop using a certain type of cluster bomb -- a battlefield weapon that has killed or seriously wounded civilians.
The Pentagon planned to stop using the older style bombs in 2019 and replace them with a so-called safer version.
A Defense Department memo said Thursday the military has been unable to produce cluster bombs with a failure rate of 1 percent or less.
Cluster bombs explode in midair and scatter smaller bombs across a wide target area.
Human rights groups say many of these bomblets fail to explode until a child finds one and mistakes it for a toy or a farmer picks one up in his field.
A 2010 treaty outlaws the use of cluster bombs, but the U.S. is not a signatory. It calls the bombs a legitimate weapon needed for such wartime tactics as attacking enemy troop formations.
Human Rights Watch condemned the Pentagon's decision.美國五角大樓無限期推遲停用一種集束炸彈的計劃。這種炸彈曾造成平民傷亡。
五角大樓原來計劃2019年停止使用老式的集束炸彈，用一種新型炸彈取代。
美國國防部星期四的一個通知說，軍方始終未能生產出未爆率低於1%的集束炸彈。
集束炸彈在空中爆炸，在大片打擊地帶散落成小彈體。
人權團體說，很多集束炸彈中的小彈體落地後沒有爆炸，結果兒童看到後以爲是玩具，或者農民在農田裏看到，把它們撿起來後發生爆炸。
2010年的一項國際條約將集束炸彈列爲非法武器，但是美國不是簽字國。美國認爲，在戰爭中遇到集結的敵方軍隊時，需要使用集束炸彈進行合法的攻擊。
人權觀察譴責美國五角大樓的決定。
